Here at Gajitz, we’ve been burned by the promise of working hoverboards before. We get all excited about someone’s new invention that promises to let us zoom around like Marty McFly, only to be crushed when the “innovation” turns out to be bogus. That’s why we were ultra-skeptical when everyone started buzzing about the Hendo Hoverboard.

But initial reports of test drives are rolling in, and surprisingly they seem to indicate that this thing actually works. But there is, as always, a catch: it can only hover above certain metallic surfaces, so to ride it in its current iteration you’ll need a specially-constructed hoverboard park. It works with technology based on electromagnetics and currently can hover only an inch above the ground.

So far it doesn’t sound too exciting, right? Watch the video above and you might change your mind. It’s not like other “revolutionary” hoverboards that can float an inch or two above the ground but can’t support any weight. It can actually carry a rider and move around somewhat like a skateboard. It can’t go as fast as a skateboard or do the same tricks, but it’s early days in product development and it seems likely that the Hendo will only get better from here.

Jill and Greg Henderson, the founders of Hendo, are confident that the technology will continue to evolve to the point that the board will no longer need a metal surface to work. They predict it will be able to move over regular solid ground and maybe even water (take THAT, hoverboards in Back to the Future Part II!).

The Hendo is, at this point, a proof of concept and not an actual product that you can buy. The team is working on refining and advancing the technology, and as such they’ve taken to Kickstarter to get the public involved in their work. For $10,000 early supporters were offered the chance to buy the first 10 Hendo Hoverboards ever produced, but as of publication time they’re already gone. You can still buy scale replicas to display on your desk or little hovering cubes to play with the hovering technology. The project has shredded its funding goal, and we’re looking forward to seeing just how far the Hendersons can take their seriously exciting idea.

The post The World’s First Working Hoverboard Has Finally Arrived first appeared on Gajitz.

What would you give – particularly on those stressed-out mornings when you’re running late – to be able to charge your smartphone in a mere half minute? An Israeli startup called StoreDot has developed a prototype that does exactly that, even if the battery is completely dead.

The secret used in the amazing charger is called quantum dot technology. It relies on microscopic nanocrystal batteries made of semiconductor materials. StoreDot calls their version of the technology “nanodots,” and they hope to completely change the world of mobile device batteries. The technology is much greener than current mobile batteries and, amazingly, also costs less.

As of yet, as seen in the video above, the StoreDot device is big and bulky, and nowhere near ready to be used in a phone. But the external charging capabilities are enough for us – we’d love to get our hands on a prototype, no matter how clunky and cumbersome it might be. According to StoreDot, we’re about a year away from seeing this technology built inside phones, and another two years away from seeing it get powerful enough to last a whole day. By 2017 or so, we should all be carrying around smart devices with quantum magic happening inside them.

(via: TechCrunch)

The post Quantum-Powered Charger Juices Up a Phone in 30 Seconds first appeared on Gajitz.

3D printing is typically a realm for plastics. But what happens when a pair of inventors wants to use metal? It becomes molten, a unique process not yet seen in metal manipulation.

When the jump is made from plastic to metal, the name Vader is smirkingly ironic. Father and son team Scott and Zachary have created the Vader Printer. Using molten aluminum, it maneuvers around processes that use lasers or anodizing while still creating complicated shapes. After the aluminum goes through a thermal chamber, it becomes magnetized in order to be extracted onto the printer bed.

The Vader has a huge granite base that’s necessary to absorb the molten metal’s heat. The only previous method to print metallic, known as laser sintering, composed fine metal powder into solid objects. The current Vader system has been in development for seven months and is predicted to carry a $10,000 price tag when it’s released sometime in 2014.

The post High-Tech Molten Metal 3D Printer is From the Dark Side first appeared on Gajitz.

Fights over who gets to wield the remote control can get pretty heated, but figuring out whose turn it is to pick a channel is about to get a whole lot more complicated. EyeSight Technologies has introduced a new fingertip gesture-based technology that allows you to control your TV without the need for a remote – you just use your own hands.

EyeSight’s technology is kind of like a touch screen but without the screen. They say it is the world’s first gesture- recognition software. It works not only with televisions, but also with laptops, tablets, phones, and in-car systems. The company wants to make gesture-based controls as simple and intuitive to the entire developed world as Apple made touch screen controls.

Unfortunately for everyone hoping to install a simple piece of software and start conducting the channels with their outstretched fingers, this isn’t exactly add-on technology. The software would have to be built into the device along with a 2D webcam. Still, it would give both short-range and long-range control that would recognize not only hand movements but gestures as well.

The post To the Point: Gesture Controls Make Your Hand the Remote first appeared on Gajitz.

Have you ever wondered what goes on inside a brain when it’s forming a thought? This video from a team of Japanese researchers shows neurons lighting up when they are active. This gives us a unique glimpse into a brain that is actively thinking. Alas, it isn’t a human brain – it’s the brain of a zebrafish. But the video represents a huge leap forward in understanding exactly how brains of all kinds function.

The researchers made it happen with an extremely sensitive fluorescent probe that detects neuron activity. With the probe, neurons light up when they’re active and we’re able to see a thought running through this fish’s mind. In this video, the fish is watching its prey swim around so the thought probably has something to do with wanting to swim over and eat it. The researchers from Japan’s National Institute of Genetics are now working on using the same technique to depict thoughts forming in the brains of other animals.

The post Fishy Science: World’s First Video of Thought Forming in a Brain first appeared on Gajitz.